Yelp (NYSE:YELP) Hits New 52-Week Low Following Insider Selling

Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $26.56 and last traded at $26.62, with a volume of 38901 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $27.40.

Specifically, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of Yelp stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.26, for a total transaction of $817,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 756,458 shares in the company, valued at $20,621,045.08. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.54, for a total value of $826,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 756,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,832,853.32. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In other news, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.39, for a total transaction of $821,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 756,458 shares in the company, valued at $20,719,384.62. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

YELP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Yelp from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Yelp in a research report on Friday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Yelp from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Yelp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.29.

Yelp Trading Down 3.7%

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.58 and a 200 day moving average of $31.08.

Yelp (NYSE:YELP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The local business review company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.14. Yelp had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 20.33%. The company had revenue of $376.04 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $368.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Yelp Inc. will post 2.22 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Yelp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bfsg LLC boosted its holdings in Yelp by 110.3% in the third quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 839 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Yelp in the second quarter worth $28,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in Yelp by 100.0% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 892 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Yelp by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,159 shares of the local business review company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MAI Capital Management grew its holdings in Yelp by 1,102.0% during the 2nd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 1,202 shares of the local business review company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,102 shares in the last quarter. 90.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Yelp

Yelp is a digital platform that connects consumers with local businesses through user-generated reviews, ratings and multimedia content. The company’s flagship offerings include the Yelp website and mobile applications for iOS and Android, where users can search for and discover restaurants, shops, service providers and other points of interest. In addition to crowd-sourced reviews and photographs, Yelp provides business profile pages featuring hours, contact information, menus and direct messaging capabilities.

Yelp generates revenue primarily through advertising services sold to small and medium-sized enterprises.